2024 College Graduates, how’s the job market?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have worked at one of the big tech companies for the last decade. There are always peaks and valleys when it comes to hiring. Right now we are in a valley. There was a lot of over hiring 3-4 years ago. My company, while not letting people go, has limited hiring through the end of FY. Sometimes one just has to wait things out until the market improves.

tech companies are still hiring kids. My DC just applied to a top tech firm for their highly coveted training program - the company started late, just posting role within last couple of weeks. My kid has a major connection there, thank god - or wouldn’t have made it past the AI Our connection said that the company philosophy is to never cut back on new grad hires, even when laying off other areas

So it comes down to who you know and not what you know.

And, this is nothing new. I'm 47 and have gotten several jobs, even dating back to high school, because of a connection.

[Anonymous]

Earlier this week, I had a plumber snake a clogged kitchen sink drain - he charged $350 for 35 minutes of effort!

Snaking a clogged drain is the least favorite job for a trained plumber. We had a guy out to repair a leak behind a wall. He was here all day, did a few extra things and the job cost $6200. He got 20% of the "sale" related to jobs we added while he was here and about $20/hr for the rest of the job. He had more than 10yr experience. I asked why he didn't start his own business and he explained it isn't as easy as people claim - you need a license, insurance, tools, a truck, supplies etc and all that adds up, in addition to the high cost of living in this area. He didn't recommend plumbing for my nephew who recently graduated and isn't sure he wants to go to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A plumber yesterday told me they charge $420 per hour. I was shocked inflation drove plumbing service to $420 per hour! Now how many college majors offer $420 per hour, even ten years post-graduation? And the icing on the cake is AI will not replace residential plumbing maintenance jobs!

Yep. Plumbers have always been expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:4 years is a long time. Job market may be different in 4 years when a freshman graduates from college.

This. And AI is going to change a lot of job sectors in ways that aren’t really predictable right now.

So seems like being an AI programmer would be a good choice because that will be the last job to go.

Kidding aside AI today is little more than a grammar checker. The hype is unwarranted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Earlier this week, I had a plumber snake a clogged kitchen sink drain - he charged $350 for 35 minutes of effort!

Snaking a clogged drain is the least favorite job for a trained plumber. We had a guy out to repair a leak behind a wall. He was here all day, did a few extra things and the job cost $6200. He got 20% of the "sale" related to jobs we added while he was here and about $20/hr for the rest of the job. He had more than 10yr experience. I asked why he didn't start his own business and he explained it isn't as easy as people claim - you need a license, insurance, tools, a truck, supplies etc and all that adds up, in addition to the high cost of living in this area. He didn't recommend plumbing for my nephew who recently graduated and isn't sure he wants to go to college.

He needs to value himself more. Live in a VHCOL and our plumbers (and HVAC) make closer to $40-50/hour themselves even with the big companies. This is also why you might want a business degree/AA in business along with the plumbing training, so you build the skills towards owning your own business (yes it takes some capital as well as planning), so you can have 3-4 plumbers and yourself and collect the $150+/hour and keep 50%+ for yourself

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A plumber yesterday told me they charge $420 per hour. I was shocked inflation drove plumbing service to $420 per hour! Now how many college majors offer $420 per hour, even ten years post-graduation? And the icing on the cake is AI will not replace residential plumbing maintenance jobs!

In SF, they have $20 burritos bc of inflation.

[Anonymous]

Ok, so what does DCUM recommend for a kid who has good stats? DC does not have a particular passion for anything and is pretty much open to studying anything except the humanities (is decent but still hate writing). Seems every careers is up in the air with AI. I don't think he can handle plumbing (not very handy and probably does not have the strength to lift anything too heavy)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The CS majors I know from Columbia snd Stanford have great tech jobs starting this summer/fall.

The humanities majors I know from Yale, Georgetown and Dartmouth have finance gigs or consulting.

The kids from Wisconsin, Denison and Miami-Ohio - also all graduating shortly - are still looking.

Yeah, how connected are the students?

All of them from the same private high school. MC/UMC families. Think the school name helps in this part of cycle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have worked at one of the big tech companies for the last decade. There are always peaks and valleys when it comes to hiring. Right now we are in a valley. There was a lot of over hiring 3-4 years ago. My company, while not letting people go, has limited hiring through the end of FY. Sometimes one just has to wait things out until the market improves.

tech companies are still hiring kids. My DC just applied to a top tech firm for their highly coveted training program - the company started late, just posting role within last couple of weeks. My kid has a major connection there, thank god - or wouldn’t have made it past the AI Our connection said that the company philosophy is to never cut back on new grad hires, even when laying off other areas

So it comes down to who you know and not what you know.

And, this is nothing new. I'm 47 and have gotten several jobs, even dating back to high school, because of a connection.

It's a combination. I've definitely interviewed people because of a connection but once they are in the pool they need to outshine the others.

But yes, personal connection matters. College freshman DD has a good summer job because she applied to one job at a local agency and happened to know the hiring manager (parent of a classmate). Manager let her know that job had been filled but encouraged her to apply to a different job that she'd not applied to because the job description didn't seem to be a fit but the manager said that while it says X, I'm really fine with someone who has Y. (+ Apparently being someone they know).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, so what does DCUM recommend for a kid who has good stats? DC does not have a particular passion for anything and is pretty much open to studying anything except the humanities (is decent but still hate writing). Seems every careers is up in the air with AI. I don't think he can handle plumbing (not very handy and probably does not have the strength to lift anything too heavy)

What are favorite subjects and topics?

Lots of anthropology majors at Dartmouth and Yale end up in consulting or finance…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have worked at one of the big tech companies for the last decade. There are always peaks and valleys when it comes to hiring. Right now we are in a valley. There was a lot of over hiring 3-4 years ago. My company, while not letting people go, has limited hiring through the end of FY. Sometimes one just has to wait things out until the market improves.

tech companies are still hiring kids. My DC just applied to a top tech firm for their highly coveted training program - the company started late, just posting role within last couple of weeks. My kid has a major connection there, thank god - or wouldn’t have made it past the AI Our connection said that the company philosophy is to never cut back on new grad hires, even when laying off other areas

So it comes down to who you know and not what you know.

And, this is nothing new. I'm 47 and have gotten several jobs, even dating back to high school, because of a connection.

It's a combination. I've definitely interviewed people because of a connection but once they are in the pool they need to outshine the others.

But yes, personal connection matters. College freshman DD has a good summer job because she applied to one job at a local agency and happened to know the hiring manager (parent of a classmate). Manager let her know that job had been filled but encouraged her to apply to a different job that she'd not applied to because the job description didn't seem to be a fit but the manager said that while it says X, I'm really fine with someone who has Y. (+ Apparently being someone they know).

My experience is different than yours. If the resume comes from an EVP or SVP of the company, I am not going to say no to them because they are the one who determine my bonus and employment, unless the candidate is not qualified for the job. I can tell from personal experience that 99% of CS candidates can do the job, regardless of the school they attended. I am hiring SWE, not someone to build SpaceX.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, so what does DCUM recommend for a kid who has good stats? DC does not have a particular passion for anything and is pretty much open to studying anything except the humanities (is decent but still hate writing). Seems every careers is up in the air with AI. I don't think he can handle plumbing (not very handy and probably does not have the strength to lift anything too heavy)

What are favorite subjects and topics?

Lots of anthropology majors at Dartmouth and Yale end up in consulting or finance…

Those people have "connections" that regular students and Yale and Dartmouth do not. You're a fool if you think otherwise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ok, so what does DCUM recommend for a kid who has good stats? DC does not have a particular passion for anything and is pretty much open to studying anything except the humanities (is decent but still hate writing). Seems every careers is up in the air with AI. I don't think he can handle plumbing (not very handy and probably does not have the strength to lift anything too heavy)

What are favorite subjects and topics?

Lots of anthropology majors at Dartmouth and Yale end up in consulting or finance…

Yeah but that’s Dartmouth and Yale. There are maybe 10-15 schools where Anthropology majors can go into lucrative fields. Even at good school schools like Michigan and UVA, Anthropology majors are not going to be getting into consulting or finance unless they’re very connected or a varsity athlete.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:4 years is a long time. Job market may be different in 4 years when a freshman graduates from college.

This. And AI is going to change a lot of job sectors in ways that aren’t really predictable right now.

So seems like being an AI programmer would be a good choice because that will be the last job to go.

Kidding aside AI today is little more than a grammar checker. The hype is unwarranted.

at least for now. I don't think AI is taking over that many CS jobs, yet. Even Google's AI is not that great yet. The software engineers who were let go were from different product areas, not AI. Lots of tech companies over hired, and now they are adjusting, while also trying to grow their AI.

AI is not yet at the point where mid to upper level software engineers are being replaced by them. Low level programmer jobs have been offshored for over a decade. That is not going to change.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Know 5 W&M grads this year and of those one is going directly on to grad school, the other have jobs lined up. Four social science type majors and one business.

How many obtained positions through parental or other connections? Which fields? URMs?

Public Policy, Environmental science, Psychology (going to grad school), Business (forgot what specialization), IR -- Range of jobs--one fed, 2 US private companies, 1 international org, no parent connections that I know of but I wouldn't necessarily know for all of them. They did a lot of interviews and 2 kids were choosing between options. One is connected to prior internship. None are URM.